Membership Update: National Training Centre and Facilities Working Group

As shared last week, RCA has partnered with the Sport Law & Strategy Group (SLSG) to prepare a National Training Centre (NTC) and Facilities Strategy Review that will inform RCA’s High Performance program’s decision making following the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It will further assist to inform the decision making process in the lead up to 2020, however the focus remains on a long-term strategy that will maximize RCA’s podium success.

As part of the NTC and Facilities Strategy Review, a Working Group has been struck to provide direction and to support the overall coordination of activities throughout the review process. Their counsel is critical in ensuring that the review process is accountable and inclusive. As outlined in the Terms of Reference, the Working Group will report back to the RCA Board on the progress and the delivery of the NTC and Facilities Strategy Review by the Sport Law & Strategy Group.

The members of the Working Group were invited by the RCA Board of Directors and High Performance Director. Along with a significant amount of professional experience, members of the Working Group are well versed in high performance rowing, competitive training environments, and the Canadian sport system.

The SLSG and the Working Group are implementing a comprehensive consultation process that will seek insights from National Team athletes (current and alumni), high performance coaches, high performance staff, key provincial stakeholders and performance partners to ensure an optimal strategy that maximizes RCA’s podium success.

“I am excited to have been asked to sit on this Working Group and I look forward to working collaboratively with the other group members,” said McClelland. “Our goal is to provide support to the Sport Law & Strategy Group as it maps out an inclusive process and reviews the data it collects.. I fully believe that this process will help RCA make an evidence based decision on the long term RCA National Training Centre and Facilities Strategy.”

Research, analysis and stakeholder consultation has begun and will continue through until early March 2018. We anticipate that the project will be completed by end of March with updates being shared with our membership as needed. Full details on the scope of work can be found HERE.

We welcome an open dialogue on this matter. An information session will be led by the SLSG at the 2018 National Coaching Conference on January 26th, 2018 at 5pm EST. We will continue to provide updates throughout the consultations. If you have questions or would like to provide input to the RCA’s Facilities and NTC Strategy, please reach out to us by emailing us at rcafeedback@rowingcanada.org. Your comments will be received by SLSG, the RCA CEO and the Chair of the Working Group.